Marlan and Rosemary Bourns College of Engineering (BCOE) professors Juchen Guo and Hamed Mohsenian-Rad have been named co-Directors of the Winston Chung Global Energy Center (WCGEC). The center focuses on advancing solutions for today’s energy storage demands and developing energy storage, generation, and distribution research and energy-use strategies for tomorrow’s applications.
Reza Abbaschian, Distinguished Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and former BCOE dean, has served as the center’s director since 2016.
“We would like to thank Distinguished Professor and previous director Reza Abbaschian for his leadership in establishing and running the Winston Chung Global Energy Center,” Guo and Mohsenian-Rad said in a joint statement. “We are excited to continue his legacy and lead the center in pursuing a comprehensive and ambitious agenda in energy innovation and sustainability.”
Guo’s and Mohsenian-Rad’s backgrounds in power systems and energy storage systems position them as uniquely qualified to lead WCGEC.
Juchen Guo is currently a professor in the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering and the Materials Science and Engineering program chair. His research interests focus on the interfacial phenomena and material properties in electrochemical energy storage systems, including lithium metal, lithium-sulfur, and multivalent-ion batteries such as magnesium and aluminum systems. Guo has over 90 peer-reviewed publications and over 8,000 citations. He received a 2018 National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award.
Mohsenian-Rad is a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and a Bourns Family Faculty Fellow. His research interests include developing data-driven and model-based techniques for monitoring, control, and optimization of power systems and smart grids. Mohsenian-Rad is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and received a 2012 NSF CAREER Award. He has over 190 peer-reviewed publications and over 18,000 citations. Two of his papers are currently ranked as the two most cited articles in the IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid journal. Mohsenian-Rad is the author of Smart Grid Sensors: Principles and Applications, a smart grid sensors and data-driven applications textbook. He has previously served as principal investigator (PI) or co-PI on over $16 million in research projects in power systems and smart grid.
WCGEC is a multidisciplinary research center focusing on the broad areas of energy and sustainability. The center was established in 2011 with a $10 million donation from Winston Chung, a Chinese battery technology scientist, inventor, and entrepreneur. The gift was later augmented with an additional $5 million to establish the Sustainable Integrated Grid Initiative — a WCGEC project intended to demonstrate “smart integration” of battery technologies, renewable energy, and advanced dispatch controls through field implementations at UCR and the City of Riverside.
Header image: Winston Chung Global Energy Center's 1.1 megawatt green batteries located in Winston Chung Hall.